July 28, 2009

I can’t believe that I’ve been around this long and only heard of Tommy Emmanuel last night. My buddy Mike, the Computer Maven, emailed me a link to one of this Aussie guitar wizard’s You Tube videos, asking if I had ever heard of him. I opened up the link and spent the next hour listening to various performances, each one more jaw-dropping than the next.

In one of the videos, Emmanuel takes questions from the audience. One of the questioners asked about the percussion he adds to many of his tunes by scraping and smacking his guitar. He revealed that he is also a drummer and demonstrated some of his technique.

You can see his percussion skills full blown in his performance of Mombasa.

This was great. I got another one for you. Try Andy McKee. He is all over Youtube. He has two really good songs. Try “Rylynn” first and then go to “Drifting”.
This is acoustic guitar playing at a whole new level.
Let me know what you think.

Thanks for bringing Tommy to the attention of the multitudes. My fave is his rendition of “Amazing Grace”, not because it’s his most dexterous, but the song just stirs me. At 83, my guitarist of choice was Chet Atkins for 50 years or so, before a lot of newcomers arrived on the scene. There are many excellent artists, but if I may, I’d like to direct your attention to a friend, Dave Bunker. He can be found on YouTube, and has long been overlooked, both as a performer and also as an innovator. He invented a double-necked ‘touch tone’ guitar, and uses both hands for base and treble, like playing a piano.

Yo! Jimbo! Take a gander at the Barrigar Brothers. Loren Barrigar studied under Tommy Emmanuel and Chet Atkins. I’m lucky enough to know Loren and Kevin, and they are local so I get to listen to them live all the time.

Loren recently flew to Nashville to perform at a tribute to Chet Atkins. Loren said it wasn’t taped for public consumption, but he said he will provide me with a copy of his tape. When he does so, I will pass it on to you.

Part of the fun of this guy Tommy, is that he so clearly loves what he’s doing. You can tell that every lick he plays he’s about to pop out of his skin with enjoyment. This guy is electric. The drum solo in the middle of this wonderful song makes me think of a tap-dancer face off. Thoroughly enjoyable, I have to find a venue to see him at.